The invention relates generally to specialized tool kits that combine into a variety of tools. These tool kits are designed specifically for use by military units in hostile environments. However, it is anticipated that these tool kits may also be used by special weapons and tactics police squads, drug enforcement squads, and in other uses where there is a premium on compactness, portability, and versatility of a tool set.
Since the break up of the old Soviet Union, the military has had to adopt to different tactical and strategic missions. For approximately 50 years, the primary strategic mission of the United States military was to respond to aggression from a large well-equipped adversary in a traditional ground war. Consequently, highly trained mechanized battalions were stationed in Europe, Korea, and other places where such an attack was viewed as possible. However, after the break up of the Soviet Union, the threat of a large scale military attack by mechanized or armored infantry units have become significantly less. Rather, the military has found itself engaged in peace-keeping functions in such places as Haiti, Somalia, and the Balkans. In these circumstances, company, platoon, or even squad size units are dispersed in an urban area stationed at check points or otherwise engaged in functions that bear more resemblance to traditional police functions rather than to traditional military tactics.
The resistance these units are apt to meet tends to be more individualized, ad hoc, and in the form of sniper attacks or fire fights than a large scale mechanized assault. Military personnel serving in this fashion are frequently dressed in body armor. Secondly, they are armed to respond to the kind of resistance they are expected to meetxe2x80x94that is, they will have automatic rifles, grenade launchers, shotguns, or other types of urban weapons. These units are required to respond instantly in a highly charged, volatile, and changing situation where time is at a premium. Ordinarily, these units must make do with what they have with them, because there will be little, if any, opportunity to return to a storage area or central area to retrieve tools that may be need at the scene of an action.
Specialized combination tool sets have been designed specifically for firefighters. These combination tool sets have some of the qualities that are desirable in a tool set designed specifically for military use. Firefighters frequently have to perform a variety of tasks with tools at hand and may have little time to return to a storage area to retrieve a specialized tool. One example of a firefighters tool set is disclosed in Lugtenaar, U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,493. This patent discloses a set of fire fighting tools for use in fighting forest fires. This tool set includes a handle with a variety of heads which fit on a handle, including a shovel which can double as a scraper/raker with an ax and hoe blade. Trujillo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,724, discloses a combination fire tool set which has an ax-like head member disclosed at one end with a pipe-like member disclosed at the other end. Menke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,853, discloses a fireman""s personal hand tool which has a spike and wrench member. It is specially designed to attach to a variety of hydrant valve shapes and sizes. These firefighter tools as described above ordinarily have handles that detach from tool sets. However, these handles may thread onto the tool set or be bolted or riveted onto the tool set as shown in Trujillo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,724.
Other types of combination tool sets are well known. A number of tools sets have been designed specifically for sportsmen or campers. For example, Cole, U.S. Pat. No. 576,756 discloses a sectional tool handle adopted for receipt of heads such as hammers, hatchets, spades, picks, and so on. Here the various heads and handles are connected by screwing them onto a threaded sleeve. The heads are interchangeable in the Cole combination tool. Fried, U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,316, discloses a forcible entry tool with detachable heads and handles that use spring-mounted pins for attaching the handles to the heads. A specialized cutting and breaking tool is shown in the Spencer-Foote, U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,023. The handle assembly is attachable to a plurality of tools which include such things as axes, picks, and pry bars. The Spencer-Foote device uses threaded connectors to attach handles to the tool heads like the ax, picks, and pry bars. Belanger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,420, discloses a multi-purpose camping tool. Various components can be structured together to form an ax, a trenching spade, a grapple hook, a saw frame, and even a pole ladder.
Despite this earlier work, there is still need for a combination tool design to meet the specialized demands imposed upon the military by its peace-keeping and urban warfare roles or on paramilitary police units like SWAT teams and the like. This specialized tool assembly must be compact, easily packed and carried. Second, it must be durable and strong enough to carry out the functions required. Third, it must easily fit together to form the widest variety of tools. Fourth, nothing should be required to assemble or disassemble the tool set other than what would ordinarily be carried by military or police personnel. Fifth, the tool set should be made to close enough tolerances so that it will be sufficiently durable and useful but, at the same time, must easily assemble and disassemble in adverse conditionsxe2x80x94that is, mud, dust, rust, and the like should not prevent the easy assembling and disassembling of the tool set. A tool set that meets the need for ease of assembly and disassembly in adverse conditions requires the use of appropriate materials, tolerances, and specialized design that is not simply a matter of choice. Sixth, and finally, the tool set should be designed to minimize the risk to users from electrical current or from such other risks as booby traps, flammable, or explosive gases.
This invention is a tool assembly. First, there should be handle pieces constructed of a lightweight, durable, and very strong material. Ordinarily, some type of plastic material is required. This handle should have specialized means for connection at each end, both to tool heads, to other handles, or to hand grips. In some circumstances, a long handle is required for a tool. Each handle piece should be capable of assembly into a longer handle by melding one or more handle pieces together. The handle material should be non-conductive and non-sparking and should help eliminate or dampen shocks transmitted through a tool head through a handle to a hand or arm of a user. There must be a variety of tool heads that are designed for quick, secure attachment and removal from the handle. The attachment and removal from the handle should be possible in adverse conditions, even when the handle or tool head is soiled, wet, or muddy. Tool heads should be designed for a variety of functions, such as lock picking or breaking, mauls to shatter door handles and doors, pikes for punching and tearing, shovels for digging, axes for cutting, and so on. The tool heads should be made of dense strong material. For some applications, the material should be non-sparking and non-conductive. The handle and heads should be designed to fit within a carrying pack so that two or three packs would provide a wide variety of possible assemblages of tools that may be needed for various functions.